The young Shrimps exited the Youth Alliance Cup at the quarter-final stage following a 1-0 defeat to Mansfield Town.
Ollie Ras made three changes from last weekend’s win in Wrexham as Alfie Scales, Callum Cooney and Billy Whaite came into the starting line-up.
The Stags started the strongest and were rewarded with a goal after only six minutes.
Attacker Alfie King showed tremendous composure to skip inside onto his left-foot, before rifling over Scales.
The opener gave the visitors further confidence to push on and midfielder Callum Johnson came close to adding Mansfield’s second on 12 minutes, but Scales made the important stop.
Midway through the first-half, the young Shrimps started to grow into the contest and forward Matthew Williams came close to restoring parity after firing from close range, forcing visiting ‘keeper Anthony Nunez into a great stop.
On 39 minutes, right-back Joe Lynchey sent a venomous delivery towards the back and Williams was denied once again by Nunez in the Mansfield goal.
Half-time: Morecambe 0-1 Mansfield Town
The Stags started the second-half on top as midfielder Ollie Taylor had two chances within a four-minute spell, but was unable to double his side’s lead.
Jack Crane entered the fray in Morecambe’s first change of the afternoon as he replaced Lynchey. The switch saw Cooney drop to right-back, whilst Adam Fairclough moved onto the right - in his natural position - after starting centrally in the Shrimps’ midfield.
Three minutes later, Ollie Ras made another change as striker Max Holden replaced Billy Whaite.
Moments after the change, the Stags came close to adding another as forward Dan Organ fired over Scales’ bar from distance.
Morecambe made their final substitution with seven minutes of regular time remaining. Joseph Sowerby replaced Leyton Holden in a like-for-like switch at centre-back.
As the quarter-final entered the closing period, Nunez was shown a yellow card for time wasting.
On 87 minutes, energetic midfielder Nathan Mercer turned superbly on the edge of the area, before ultimately lashing wide.
The final chance of our Youth Alliance Cup encounter fell to Adam Fairclough, who curled a shot inches over Mansfield’s crossbar.
Full-time: Morecambe 0-1 Mansfield Town
Morecambe: Scales, Lynchey (70’ Crane), L. Holden (83’ Sowerby), Evans ©, Wright, Mercer, Fairclough, Williams, McKean, Cooney, Whaite (73’ M. Holden)
Subs not used: Tongue, Goodyear
Mansfield Town: Nunez, Hartmann, Bonser, Whyle, Warnaby, Maher, Johnson (91’ Spink), Taylor, Organ, Kokkinos, King
Subs not used: Whitman-Brown, Ellis, Scott, Hamilton